The Iterum Effect
by Art-Of-Escape
Summary: It was three years into their marriage when Harry realised that he really didn't like Ginny as much as he should. And so, with questionable sanity, Harry broke into Time-Turner room at the Ministry and ate the sands of time. HPSS. Slash.
1. Prologue

Summary: It was three years after their marriage that Harry realised that he really didn't like Ginny as much as he should and that there were many things that should be fixed. With questionable sanity, Harry broke into Time-Turner room at the Ministry and ate the sands of time. HPSS. Slash.

_**Beta:** ReenanLefey_

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All belongs to JK Rowling, Warner Bros and any other affiliates.

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><p><strong>The Iterum Effect<strong>

**Prologue**

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><p>"<em><strong>A life without love is no life at all." ~ Ever After: A Cinderella Story.<br>**_  
>At a Weasley family gathering, Harry Potter became quite aware of a sudden reality known as denial. This denial takes the reluctant form of a marriage, more specifically a marriage to Ginny Weasley. Unbeknownst to many, love was not present in their bonding, not on the heart of either spouse. This epiphany had come to light at the announcement of a possible path to an unwanted future, for Harry at least.<p>

The announcement itself, while unsurprising, was a joyous occasion indeed.

"I'm pregnant!" Hermione gushed, unprompted.

At that moment the whole table erupted into cheers and Ron, loyal husband and proud father, placed his hands on the not-yet-baby-bump. Christmas had come early, it seemed.

It was then that Ginny looked over to Harry with a look quite recognisable but completely undesired. Her smiling face did not hide her latest plans. In the face of such unwelcome attention, Harry came to the abrupt but strangely creeping realisation that he did not love Ginny as much as he should, and certainly not enough to share a child with her.

A sudden uncharacteristic feeling of detachment set into Harry's heart, turning it cold, in its decisions. The indifference, in which his heart dwelled, pulsed with memories of his once vibrant enthusiasm for a family. Rita Skeeter's controversial report on his marriage being a perverted, desperate desire for his mother suddenly came to the forefront of his thoughts, weighing his mind with the stones of truth he had continuously denied. In the article there had been many similarities that connected Ginny and Lilly. It was apparent in the tones of Ginny's shining red hair that often reminded him of his lost mother and in even smaller observations like the way Ginny held her wand in a way reminiscent of Snape's memories of Lilly. It was disconcerting to say the least. But unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Fate had decided reality needed a good whip back into place, consequently making Harry Potter painfully aware of his newest dilemma.

Looking around at a family he loved, one quite full to the brim with red-heads (and strawberry-blonde children, much to their mother Fleur's horror), he could honestly say he did not regret becoming a part of it, only the manner in which he became so.

Harry's young mind sprang into life with mechanisms of boyhood adventures, in which Harry decided he could do with a re-do, so to speak. _I certainly deserve one_, he had reasoned to himself. And so Harry made a rash and a somewhat stupid decision, which as it so happened was also totally illegal.

Later that night, his heated body cooling in the air of his bedroom beside his now sleeping wife (and after a carefully cast contraception spell), Harry stood putting on fresh clothes and his faithful glasses. With nothing but his wand and a lingering afterglow, Harry left his house in Godric's Hollow for what he knew would be the last time.

Harry's heartstrings tugged at his mind persistently, but he had already made his decision. And he was nothing if not a stubborn Gryffindor, so he would see this misadventure to the end.

Apparating to the entrance of the Ministry of Magic, Harry gained special admittance into the deserted halls. His mind blank of thought and filled with questionable sanity, Harry Potter broke into the Time-Turner room and ate the sands of time, a decision both reckless and potentially fatal, but the theory behind it was stable enough, after all Hermione had been the one who had authored it.

While he knew what he was doing was considered wrong in many ways, both legally and morally, he found comfort in the certain knowledge that at least Dumbledore would have approved, to some extent.

_"Do not pity the dead Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love."_

Pity was a powerful force and within himself Harry found it in abundance..

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><p>This is just a prologue to ascertain the reaction of readers. I don't want to write a story not worth writing. If this receives well I will be putting it in the place of my other story 'In The End' which I only posted because I found myself strangely fond of the Harry I had built in the prologue but am reluctant to continue on the basis of unoriginality and absence of a foreseeable plot. In other words, writers block.<p>

**Now would be a good time to advertise the fact that myself and a small team are putting together an archive/website of sorts that deals with the recording and distributing of Harry Potter fanfiction of all genre and pairing. If you are keen to have your fic considered or would like to join the team and read aloud, it would be greatly appreciated if you were to inform me in a PM or review. Thank you.**


	2. The Journey

Thanks to my loyal Beta, Reenan Lefey.

Disclaimer: Do not own.

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><p><strong>The Iterum Effect<strong>

**The Journey**

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><p><strong>"<em>The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.<em>_" ~Don Williams, Jr._**

_**The Sands of Time by Hermione Granger**_

_The sands of time, in accordance to legend, were made at the beginning of time itself. Its power to pull people back and forwards seems like very ambiguous magic to most but is, in fact, perfectly logical and explainable if one were to sit long enough to listen. This report will __contain a succinct interpretation of all the theories currently published and__ then finally my own theory__..__._

The world blurred around Harry. He was falling through the eye of a hurricane. Gravity clawed at him, pulling him, twisting him, crushing him. His blood was pumping and his eyes strained uselessly, and the whole damn time he could hear Hermione's voice in his ear talking about the already memorised theory on time travel in regards to the Sands of Time.

_Many theories are tempered throughout the ages and each generation seems to favour__a new theory as it comes about. Within the bounda-_

Images blurred before Harry's eyes, each gone before he could make sense of it. A sudden understanding smacked him upside his head. These were his memories. His life was literally flashing before his eyes. He forced himself to focus, trying to track his regression along the timeline.

_... Thus this theory is proved unlikely. The next theory was more favoured in the 1800's and was created by Albus Dumbledore himself. The theory was, in a few words that like a ripe fruit one only needed to bite it at the right time to gain its full potential. Many came to expound and discuss this with officials and Unspeakables but none could make sense of it. Eventually -within the rules of the Dumbledore theorem- time turners were created, making use of the sands of time and time travel itself much more controllable and understandable. While before the sands were used in potions or nitpicked through to discover __their__secrets and __people were consequently strewn haphazardly back in time, which was purely accidental in most cases. _

Harry's wedding night flew by him in a whirl of flashy knickers and red hair. His stomach gave a mighty growl and sudden gnawing hunger twisted in his gut.

_... While most consider Dumbledore's theory the musings of a crazy man, it is not without merit. While rumours of Dumbledore's mental instability are regularly circulated, it is not to be noted unless accompanied with the acknowledgements of previous theories and achievements which have made the Wizarding World a more understandable place. While some fundamentalists say that such logical explanations take the 'magic' from th-_

Harry's head spun dizzily. His eyes throbbed from effort and he raised a hand to rub at them, only to realise there was no hand at all.

_...Theory of Magic 180bce is in cooperation with the theory of Time Magic according to Dumbledore. Stating that all Magic is conscious and given, which is in similar theory to the consciousness of thought when Time chooses to-_

Soon enough, Harry couldn't see at all.

_Taking into account the indelible theory Dumbledore has provided us I can attest to two different types of Time Magic. __The first is widely considered the only tractable kind of time magic and is known as Retrorsum. The effects…_

The voice of Hermione got louder and louder, the hunger in his nonexistent stomach becoming increasingly agonising. After an eternity of only a few seconds the world slammed to a halt. As Morpheus laid claim to Harry, the last thing he heard was Hermione's voice ringing in his ears.

…_pulled bodily back in time. But now, another effect has recently been brought to light, this effect has the power to still propel you backwards and forwards in time but instead of physically doing so, it does so mentally. This effect is called Iterum, or more plainly put, the Iterum Effect._

Harry remembers quite clearly the day Hermione had completed her 4 yearlong studies into the arithmetic mechanisms of Time Magic. While her essay had been too advanced for him to fully understand (not until Hermione had been asked to rewrite it in simpler language for a school textbook), Harry found himself utterly fascinated regardless and spent the entire night gushing to his apathetic wife about the incomprehensible possibilities that Time Magic could bring. Finding no enthusiasm for Hermione's work or Time Magic in Ginny, he went to a Hermione-enthusiast, who also dubbed as his best friend on weekends; Ron.

Ron, predictably, was quite moved by Harry's enthusiasm for Hermione's work. He obviously revelled in the sure knowledge he had a genius for a wife and the whole thing was a source of great pride for Ron. So, there was no lack of enthusiastic conversation in Ron. The whole experience had proved incredibly insightful for Harry as he learned things about Time Magic that he had not picked up on. It was obvious that Ron and Hermione had already had long conversations on the subject for Ron was knowledgeable on the issue.

Harry had always liked the way Hermione told stories, whether it be about the Deathly Hallows or how Time Magic was discovered. He loved the way in which Hermione left subtle inferences in her work; it was captivating. The way she reminded the readers that while Time magic was an amazing thing it was all quite explainable. What fascinated Harry the most was her analytical paragraph on the Iterum Effect, which was all an understandable form of science. The idea was that if an individual's Magical Core was to come into contact with the Sands of Time, they would have the ability to send themselves back in time without the need for a physical form. But when Harry brought it up in a conversation Hermione had made it quite clear that it was very dangerous and very difficult to do such a thing, as there was no proven safe way of doing it.

"The Ministry's Magical Theories Investigational Department have tried hard to create a way to do it safely. I mean, they've tried to spell it into the Core; make potions that excrete the magical aspects of the sand. They've tried almost everything but once the magic is removed or the Sand is tampered with it becomes null- just ordinary sand." Hermione had said. "The Magical Core is in a place deep inside you and is considered unreachable by magic."

"Well, why don't they just eat the Sand then?" Harry had replied, to which Ron had burst out laughing with great wheezing gasps and knee slaps. Hermione had adopted a bemused expression which turned into a contemplative one.

Ron instantly recognised the face and said in disbelief, "You're not actu-? You can't be...! You aren't actually considering the idea! It's bloody ridiculous!"

"Well, actually, it might just work." Ron's eyes had nearly fallen from their sockets.

As soon as this was said, Harry's expression had changed to something which Hermione recognised swiftly and she quickly threw a proverbial wet blanket onto Harry's forming plans.

"But! While it has merit, the consumer's body would quickly disintegrate! Unlike with Time Turners the user would not be able to return." Hermione said, "they would never be able to return to their home; their families."

Harry's face fell.

"Anyway, even if it did work, by the time knowledge of it became public there would be a ban on it since you can't just go around eating Sands of Time. Besides, it is a form of Horcruxial Magic therefore, by default, it would be considered Dark and quickly be forbidden." Hermione had said in a tone the boys were quite familiar with from their school days.

Harry and Ron's heads snapped up simultaneously at the mention of Horcruxes. Noticing this, Hermione explained further.

"It would rip the soul from the physical form when it is being forced back and, even worse, the Magical Core would follow. Assuming that the soul would be forced to take a human body, it would not only absorb the others' soul but their Magical Core also, creating one very powerful form of Horcrux; similar to the one that Harry had been. It would be a fortunate turn of events for someone who was like Voldermort in mindset."

After an awkward and, in Harry's case, depressed silence, Ron brought up the Chudley Cannons latest game and the trio fell once more into easy banter. By silent agreement the Sands of Time were not mentioned again.

Unfortunately, Harry's mind was not laid to rest so easily as the conversation. In the weeks that followed the idea nagged at him more than his wife. He lay awake pondering the infinite possibilities. There were so many choices he might have made. What if he could have done things better? What if the best path was the road not taken? How many needless deaths could have been avoided?

He stopped eating, sleeping. Even Ginny, who was hardly the best judge of his moods, had begun to notice the difference in him. Enthusiasm turned to obsession turned to mania. Had he continued down that path without resolution he would have run mad. Though, many could argue that the very idea was mad.

In the end resistance had been futile, as the seed of idea had already been planted. All Harry had needed was some sort of catalyst, one last push over the edge. The idea was rooted deep in Harry's mind, reminding him of the wrongs not righted, the lives given and stolen for The Greater Good. It was Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, Fred and even Snape! It was those who had lost their lives in a fruitless war that had truly driven Harry to the Department of Mysteries in the dead of night. It was the memories of them, who had Harry shamefully shovelling handfuls of sand into his mouth. It was the long dead and his own selfishness that had Harry setting out on what he hoped would not be his last, apparently suicidal, adventure.

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><p>About this chapter... majority of the reviews I had were questions about Harry's reasoning, etc. So I thought I had better explain things before I begin Harry's true adventure. Oh, and I know the essay was kinda nonsensical but the idea is that most of it is cut off so therefore it is half-heard and confusing. I hope you enjoyed!<p> 


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